OPINION: Sports Fans, Don’t Throw Beer on Players

10/16/2018

It’s Sunday night in Foxboro. Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill scores a 75-yard touchdown to tie the Patriots 40-40. Hill celebrates and rushes to the end zone where fans watch in anger.

In the front row of Gillette Stadium, Hill sees fans draped in red, blue and white. Instead of booing the receiver who scored a touchdown on their team, the fans took it to another level. Three fans stuck out their middle fingers at Hill, and one more hurled a cup of beer at the receiver, landing all over his helmet and uniform. All for scoring a touchdown.

Stadium rules strictly prohibit throwing objects at players, and it’s a result of unfortunate history.

In 1979, an NHL brawl between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers found its way into the stands. A Ranger fan identified by Bruins players as the culprit, John Kaptain, reached out and smacked a Bruins player with a program on the way out, causing the player to bleed from under his eyes. In response, Bruins defenseman Mike Milbury beat the fan with a shoe, leading to more fan-player altercations. Three fans received discipline by police in the incident, and Madison Square Garden added more security and fencing to protect fans and prevent them from throwing objects at players.

Most famously in 2004, a brawl between the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons led to Pacers players Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest (Metta World Peace) and Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace reaching into the stands to face fans that threw beverages, garbage, and insults at players. The footage clearly shows Jackson and Artest jumping over the scorer’s tables and into the stands, undeterred by arena security.

In seconds, ESPN’s cameras try to cut away from Artest, Jackson and Rasheed Wallace confronting fans and exchanging fists, all while other Pacers players and coaches rush into their locker room for safety, holding their heads as heckling fans pelted them with popcorn and beer like circus animals.

Local police handcuffed the culprits and evacuated the arena as Pistons P.A. announcer John Mason pleaded for fans to leave. Pacers and Pistons players were given lengthy suspensions for their involvements in the brawl. The Pistons banned fans for life from games for throwing projectiles at Artest.

This horror scene, known infamously as “The Malice at the Palace”, was a nightmare for fan security in professional sports. From this day forward, new NBA provisions required extra security guards at all times, and other professional sports quickly followed.

This was the worst example of a fan-player fight, but it came with some of the best wisdom from the media the next day.

As many articles put, it’s cowardly for fans to throw beer and trash at players from the comfort and protection of their seats knowing they could not say or do such things to the player’s face without physical ramifications. It is the top responsibility of security to prevent and mediate threats to fan and players safety.

Back in Foxboro, Tyreek Hill pointed back to the fans and was quickly restrained by his own teammates. The game went on as usual, with the Patriots scoring on their next drive to win 43-40.

Foxboro police arrested the man who threw the beer, a 21-year-old from Mansfield, Massachusetts, and the Patriots are permanently banning the fan from attending future events at Gillette Stadium.

Tyreek Hill and his agent wanted to press charges, and local police charged the 21-year-old with disorderly conduct and throwing an object at a sporting event. His name deserves no mention.

There is a flat argument going around that defends the thrower on the account of Tyreek Hill’s history of domestic violence. Hill infamously trapped and assaulted his pregnant girlfriend, even pushing her down flights of stairs.

There’s no other side to this: fans should not throw beer and objects on players. Yes, what Hill did was horrible, but the incident from Sunday night has nothing to do with Hill’s deplorable past. This was no act of justice; the fan was angry that Hill taunted the crowd after celebrating a touchdown. After a few drinks, the man thought it was proper to throw a drink at the 5’10”, 185 pound receiver, knowing Hill was in uniform and could not react how would off the football field.

In fact, Hill’s dangerous past is even more reason not to spill a drink on him. Self defense? Give me a break. How does spilling a drink on an alleged abuser make anyone safer? You were just upset he scored a touchdown, that was no act of justice.

It all comes down to respect. Nobody is a winner in this situation, and it ruins Patriots fans’ reputations. The less said about Tyreek Hill’s behavior, the better, but that’s completely irrelevant to why the fan threw his drink.

Bottom line: greater security measures such as a clear wall that keeps fans in the on-field seating sections from throwing objects at players, so that similar events cannot happen again.

Tyreek Hill or not, watching cowardly fans treat human professional athletes like circus animals is disgusting and horrifying to see on national television. The paying fans owe players the respect to play their game without a beer flying in their direction for scoring a touchdown. No exceptions.

I thought it was disgusting! What’s sad is if @cheetah hit one of them, he’d be in the wrong.

This tweet is not to encourage @NFL players to respond aggressively to unruly idiots but more of a message to FANS…

If this was really about Tyreek Hill’s domestic violence, please give your time to supporting victims of abuse instead of paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket just to throw beer. Community service to help victims of domestic violence would be a proper punishment for this man.

We are fortunate to live in a society that stands up to domestic abuse. We can educate ourselves and others about warning signs and help victims recover.

Fans, the NFL and this country need culture changes of their own, and each start with greater respect. Domestic abusers still play in the NFL, but that should change with the continued efforts of activism and peaceful protests.

I’m not commenting on whether Hill deserves a beer thrown on him, but that’s not important. Patriots fans who support the beer-thrower are fighting the wrong battle.